Butter cutter



A. SLATEN BUTTER CUTTER Aug. '16, 1932.

Filed April 19. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 N NN N E T A L T R mm E m w A Q Q ATTORNEY Aug. 16, 1932. A. SLATEN 1,872,517

BUTTER CUTTER Filed April 19 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY 04\ Patented Aug. 16, 1932 r UNI-TED STATES PATENT OFFICE ALBERT SLATEN, or MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA BUTTER CUTTER 7 Application filed A rir19, 1930. Serial No. 445,605.

Thisinvent-ion relates to-butter cutting mavided with a cam 20, which is rotated by a chines, and the primary object is to provide crank arm 21"having a handle22. an eflicient, practical, and comparatively Slidably mounted in the arms 10 and 18 and simpler and economically constructed meunder the shaft 11 is a toothed rack bar 23, the e chine, for use in restaurants, hotels, and rearend of which has a roller 24 for engagecafes, for dividing a large block of butter, ment against the irregular face of the cam 20. such as a conventional pound unit, into small The rack bar 23 is yieldingly held rearwardly pieces or pats to be served the individual with the roller 24 in engagement with the guests. Further and more specific objects cam by a spring 25 (see Fig. 3). The upper 19 will be disclosed in'the course of the followedge of the rack bar 23 is provided with teeth ing specification, reference being had to the 26 which intermittently move the pusher accompanying drawings, inwhich: 1 head forwardly in amanner presently to be Fig. 1 is a topor plan view of the machine. described. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the machine, Shdably and rotatably mounted upon the the major portion of the base section being shaft 11 IS a carrier 27 from which extends b ok away an integral arm 28 supporting the pusher i a ti l l ti as seen subhead 29. An ad ustable set screw 30 is 5estantially on the irregular line3'3 in Fig; 2. Cured 1n the under side of the arm 28, and J Fi 41 a cross ti n th'li 4-41 slidably engages the adjacent flange of the 29 Fig. tray 9, so as tohold' the pusher head slightly Fig. 5 is anenlarged detail section on the spaced above the-bottom of the pin, to proli 5 5 in Fi .2, 7 vide clearance between the members 9 and Referring to the drawings more particu- 29. When the set screw 30 is in contact with larly and by reference characters, A desigthe tray 9 the head 29 should be in alignment nates a main frame, which isfsuitablysecured with. the e ng p n g of the frame to and supported one base orstanda'rd B; as wn in Fig- 2. The forward face of The mainframe is made up of a horizontally the P h h 29 is provided with right disposed section 6, that is mounted on the engularly disp d grooves ,Wh 1ch-d1vide t nd d'B d a ti l d ti 7,11 it into four substantially equal sections. The

i130 is fastened to the section 6, as by screws 8. P p of these grooves is p rmi the so The frame section 6 carries a tray 9 to slidadvance to an x r e forward ably-support the butter block, and thisctray'is p f W respect a P of i readily removable for cleaning purposes. l g P S Wh mounted in The frame section 6 is provided at its rear h frame and dwlde the p l therem 35 end-With,L latemH-Yextending m 10 th t equally into four parts. The wires 32--33 I tends laterally from and is integral with the 46 i of-a cutter frame 17 whichis trunnioned-upon forms a bearing support for the rear, d f may be'secured in any suitable manner, but a shaft 11. The forward end of the shaft is I h w a novel mehhodfior (10mg journaled in ahbearing Portion 12 formedat as illustrated particularly in Fig. 5', in which A 13131 t figure it will be seen that one end of the 4 an mter-medmte pomt m an arm n ex divider wire rests in a small groove 84 in the front face of the frame 7 and extends through aperforation in the front end of a short screw 40 which is slidable in the frame 7, and screws into a nut 42 which operates F v against the rear face of the frame 7 Thus, short shaft 18 mollntoed the Outer end by turning the nut 42 the screw 40 is pulled f. e arm 1 The P 1S p b p forward, thus exerting a clamping action ided i l g head 1 which upon the wire 32; As shown in Fig. 5, it is g ges against h front ce 01 he ter also desirable to bend the extreme end of frame section 7; The forward end of the shaft 11 carries a wheel or disk lit having an eccentric pin l5 which operates in a slot 16 frame. The: rear end of'the shaft "11 is prothe wire over, as'indicated at 41, which bending will also tend to prevent the wire from being pulled out of place.

Adjustably secured to the carrier 27 is a small plate 43 having slots 44 engaged by set screws 45 which screw into the carrier 27. When these screws are loosened the plate 43 may be longitudinally adjusted with respect to the carrier, and such adjustment is preferably done by means of an adjuster screw 35 which extends through a flange 36 of the carrier, and has threaded engagement with a flange 37 at one end of the plate 43. After the desired adjustment has been made by turning of the screw 35, the set screws 45 are again tightened up to'render the plate 43 rigid with respect to the carrier. Secured in the plate 43 is a screw 38 which serves as a pivot for a pawl 39, which engages the teeth 26 of the rack bar 23. This pawl 39 has a lug 46 at its forward end which is so disposed that it will engage the carrier casting 27 to prevent the pawl from dropping below its lowermost operative position with respect to the rack bar. The pawl 39 is also provided with a finger piece 47 which extends upwardly about the carrier, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 4, and has for its purpose to disengage the pawl 39 from the rack bar when it is desired to move the carrier 27 rearwardly. WVhen the member 47 is released the pawl 39 will, of course, drop back into operative position with respect to the rack bar teeth 26. I Before the tray 9 can be removed for cleaning purposes it is of course necessary to first remove the pusher head 29, and this is done by lifting the same upwardly and swinging it over to the other side of the shaft 11. hen the tray has been re-inserted in the machine the pusher head is returned to its operative position by swinging it back into place. When this is done, however, provision must be made to prevent the breakage of any part by reason of the pawl 39 striking one of'the teeth 26 from the side, and this I have done by grinding or cutting off one corner of the pawl, as shown at 48 in Fig. 4. Thus, when the carrier is swung into operative position the pawl 39 is held up to some extent by the lug 46, but if it should swing against one of the teeth 26 instead of into one of the notches between the teeth, the cut away portion'48 will cause it to ride over the tooth so that it will not meet with any positive resistance.

The cutter head or frame 17, as previously mentioned, pivots upon the stub shaft 18, and when the crank 21-22 is rotated the eccentric pin 15 operates in the slot 16 to impart, a vertical oscillating movement to the cutter frame. The frame 17, as shown particularly in Fig. 1, operates in close proximity to the frame 7, and has a cutting wire 49 which preferably operates in a plane immediately adjacent to the plane of the cutting wires 3233. One end of the wire 49 is anchored, as at 50, to a lug 51 on the cutter frame, and from thence extends downwardly to and rearwardly through a perforation 52, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The wire 49 then extends across the opening of the cutter frame to a perforation 53, through which it extends, and terminates at a hook 54 which operates through a second lug 55 at the other end of the cutter frame, and is there engaged by a thumb screw 56 which bears against the lug 55 and may be used to tighten or release the wire 49, as occasion may require.

It may here also be noted that the frame 17 is provided with a pair of inclined supporting fingers 5758 which engage the small pieces of butter after they have been cut. from the large block by the wires 3233, and 49, to separate them from each other and from the block so that they will drop down'in individual pieces into the. ice bowl or other receptacle in which they are to be kept until served. 7

The operation of the device may be described as follows: When a block of butter, such as a pound unit, is to be cut up into small pieces, usually known as pat-s, the pusher head 29 is first moved back into its reariiiost position. The block of butter is then placed in the tray 9, and the carrier 27 is moved forwardly until the pusher head 29 engages the rear end of the block of butter. By turning the crank 21 the operator now not only reciprocates the cutter head 17, but also imparts an intermittently reciprocating action to the rack bar 23. This movement successively advances the carrier 27 step by step until the pusher head 29 is in its foremost position against the cutting wires 3233, at which time the entire block of butter has been cut up into small pieces. It will be understood, however, that the parts are so arranged, and the cam 20 is so synchronized with respect to the cutter frame 17 that the carrier 27 will not be advanced during the cutting movement of the frame 17. In other words, the cam action upon the rack bar 23 is such that the butter block will be advanced through the frame 7 only when the cutting wire 49 is in an idle position above the butter, and that there will be no forward movement or action imparted to the butter block while the forward end thereof is being severed by the cutting wire 49. The thickness of the butter pats being cut will of course be the same as the length of the teeth 26, and if it is desired tochange the thickness of the butter pieces so that more or less pats may be cut from each pound of butter the rack bar 23 can readily be substituted by one having shorter or longer teeth, as the case may be. It is always desirable, however, regardless ;of the size of the pieces being cut, to divide the butter block in such a way that the pats cut from both ends thereof will be as uniform in size as possible, and to this end I have provided the adjusting plate 37 previously described, so that the position of the pawl 39 with respect to the pusher head 29 may be slightly adjusted. Thus, for instance, should the block of butter to be out not be in a proper position with respect to the cutting frame 7, so that the first cut by the wire 49 will result in a out which is too thin or too thick, the set screws 45 are first loosened and the screw 35 is then adjusted so that the head 29 will be in a proper operating position when the first vertical cut is made into the butter.

It is understood that suitable modifications may be made in the structure as disclosed, provided such modifications come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Having now therefore fully illustrated and described my invention what I claim to be shaft, a carrier tiltable and slidable upon the shaft with a pusher head 0 erative over the butter support, a slotted ad usted plate having a screw in the slot releasably and adjustably securing the plate upon the carrier, an adjusted screw for adjusting the position of the plate on the carrier when said first mentioned screw is released, a pawl carried by said adjuster plate for engagement with the pack bar, and means for actuating the rack Signed at Minneapolis, Minnesota, this 17th day of April, 1930.

ALBERT SLATEN.

new and desire to protect by Letters Patent 1. A butter cutting machine comprising a butter support, a stationary cutter frame at one end of the support, a movable cutter frame adjacent to the stationary frame, a

shaft journaled longitudinally of the ma shaft with a pusher head operative over the butter support, a pawl on the carrier for engag'ement with the rack bar, a screw disposed parallel with respect to the rack bar for adjusting the pawl with respect to the carrier, screwmeans for securing the pawl in variously adjusted positions on the carrier, and means for actuating the rack bar.

2. A butter cutting machine comprising a butter support, a stationary cutter frame at one end of the support, a movable cutter frame adjacent to the stationary frame, a shaft journaled longitudinally of the machine,meansoperativeuponrotatingthe shaft to actuate the movable cutter frame, a toothed rack bar disposed parallel with said shaft, a carrier tiltable and slidable upon the shaft with a pusher head operative over the butter support, a pawl on the carrier for engagement with the rack bar, means for reciprocating the rack bar and a stop member limiting the downward movement of the rack bar engaging end of the pawl, said pawl having a beveled corner for sliding contact with an edge of a rack tooth whereby it may slip into operative position on the rack when the carrier is tilted into operative position.

3. A butter cutting machine comprising a butter support, a stationary cutter frame at one end of the support, a movable cutter frame adjacent to the stationary frame, a shaft journaled longitudinally of the machine, means operative upon rotating the shaft to actuate the movable cutter frame, a toothed rack bar disposed parallel with said 

